El Paso Chihuahuas
After a long period of debate, positive and negative feedback, and speculation El Paso's new Triple-A baseball team is here. The new and very expensive baseball stadium is now undergoing construction. Many believe that it is not only changing the history or good o' El Paso, TX but also about to stimulate the border economy for the better.

America's Pasttime: The History Of Baseball

When most people think about baseball from a historical perspective, they think more along the lines of the late 19th century up to present day. However, did you know that baseball's roots in the United States as America's pasttime can be traced all the way back to the 18th century?

Just as kids have played stick ball in the streets and have formed organized baseball in backyard sandlots, so were the days of informal baseball in that day and age. People used all types of equipment to make due, and then they would improvise rules along the way. In other words, rules and equipment would vary from location to location, and it was more of just an enjoyable hobby in those days. Baseball's first written mention occurred in 1791 in Massachussetts, creating a regulation of where the sport could be played in the small town of Pittsfield.

It wasn't until the 1860's that baseball actually started becoming more of an organized sport with actual rules and formal teams and equipment. This is the time when the sport actually went semi-professional. There is disagreement between the British and Americans as to where baseball actually originated. The British claim that it came from a game called "Rounders." However, the Americans say that the fundamentals of baseball and sport itself was actually invented by Abner Doubleday. Whichever you choose to believe, there is no doubt which nation has made baseball one of the top sports in the world and a national pasttime for American citizens.

The first actual recorded team that played organized baseball according to the rules governing the sport today was the New York Knickerbockers. However, this was an amateur social club that was well-known but not semi-professional, as that would not come until the 1860's, as mentioned previously.

Did you know one of the older rules of baseball actually allows any fielder to get a base runner out by plunking him with the ball? This commonly caused fights, and the Knickerbockers were the first organized team to go against this rule and play according to tagging or forcing a runner for the out. Another interesting historical reference is the Knickerbockers lost their first game played against another team 23-1!

Subsequently, the NABBP was formed in 1857 with 16 teams, the Knickerbockers being one of them. As baseball developed, the National League was it until the American League was formed later to compete against the National League. One of the main distinctions between the two nowadays is the rule of the designated hitter with the AL so the pitcher does not have to hit. In national league games, the pitcher has to hit. Otherwise the two leagues are pretty much identical, althoug in modern history, although teams have switched locations and leagues from time to time.

Notably, one of the most historical teams in baseball history is the New York Yankees. Upon their arrival, this put New York having three professional teams, the Yankees, the Giants, and the Dodgers. Upon the Yankees success with the team that has been deemed "murderer's row," both the Dodgers and the Giants left to cities in California. The Giants became the San Francisco Giants, and the Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The New York Yankees have won the most World Series titles out of any team in history, with 27. The St. Louis Cardinals come in 2nd place with a total of 11 World Series championships. Teams like the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays and more were implemented in the 60's and 70's with expansion. And, the draft was also implemented after mid-century to kind of make things more fair when it came to competition among teams in each league.

In the 1990's four more baseball teams were added. The Marlins have seen themselves win two world series in their brief existence, and the Diamondbacks are claim to one in 2001. There are many great existing rivalries in baseball, probably none more strong than that between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Prior to 2004, the Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918. And, the story rings much more eerily than that. To boot, the Red Sox would end the drought in the same fashion, becoming the only baseball team to overcome a 3-0 deficit in a postseason series to win the AL pennant against their rival, the Yankees in the 7th game.

The National League was always much stronger than the American League overall in many ways early on, garnering more All Star game wins and such. However, in more recent decades, the American League is viewed as being the stronger team. Baseball has evolved so much throughout the years, but it's no secret that it is definitely America's favorite pasttime and has the richest history when it comes to original American sports.